Deputy Bill Bell has told the editor of the Sunday Times that he takes exception to writer AA Gill's remarks about the islands.

Amongst the remarks he objects to were that islanders waved white flags and profiteered through the Occupation.

In his letter to the newspaper's Editor, Deputy Bell describes the claims as wild and unfounded.

He says Channel Islanders, during the occupation period and today, proudly consider themselves to be more British than the British and totally loyal subjects.

Deeply offensive

Deputy Bell joins Guernsey's Chief Minister Laurie Morgan and Jersey Senator Frank Walker in lodging a formal protest against what they consider to be the deeply offensive nature of the article's criticism of Channel Islanders and the way they behaved during the German occupation.

The comments in a Sunday newspaper follow a television programme about life in Jersey and Guernsey during World War II.

Writer, AA Gill, says islanders "lay on their backs and made moaning noises" when the Germans arrived.

Jersey senator, Frank Walker, says he and a number of his colleagues, are considering what action they can take.

What have the Channel Islands ever done for us? A couple of really expensive potatoes, a few flowers and fatty milk AA Gill

Mr Walker said: "Deputy Morgan and his team are over with us today from Guernsey, as are representatives from the parliaments of Sark and Alderney.

"This is something we may take concerted action on.

"We'll have to see. Sometimes the better reaction to these things is not just to dive in, because it sometimes backfires.

"But we've got to consider it and decide what to do."

Tax haven

The Sunday Times article claims the occupation of the Channel Islands has never seriously featured in Britain's collective mythology of the war.

According to Mr Gill, Island at War was actually filmed in the Isle of Man, "because the Channel Islanders have some weird rule about acting in public or that nobody outside the Bailiwick is allowed to own a camera."

He claims the title of the ITV programme is misleading, saying "island hanging out the white flags and profiteering" is closer to the truth.

In the article, Mr Gill suggests most people view the islands as tax havens, adding they are also for "secretive arms dealers, cheap booze and fags, putting greens and snobbery."

The writer claims that all the Channel Islands have given to the rest of the world is expensive potatoes, a few flowers and fatty milk.